Bessent put

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Economic Concept

• Context

  Donald Trump administration's economic and trade policies, including aggressive tariffs towards China.

• Purpose

  Perceived market stabilization strategy; commitment to using fiscal tools to suppress benchmark interest rates, particularly 10-year Treasury yields.

• Distinction

  Contrasted with the 'Powell Put,' which refers to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy response to economic downturns.

• Associated Person

  Scott Bessent

• Mechanism (Proposed)

  Manipulating the supply of 10-year bonds by funding government with greater volumes of short-dated Treasury Bills.

• Scott Bessent's Stance

  Bessent has publicly stated 'there's no put,' indicating that while policies will aim to boost markets, there isn't a direct intervention to stop market declines.

Timeline

• Scott Bessent, the person associated with the 'Bessent put,' was born. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1962-08-21

• Scott Bessent graduated from Yale College. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1984

• Scott Bessent was hired by Soros Fund Management. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1991

• Scott Bessent, as head of Soros Fund Management's London office, was a leading member of the group that profited $1 billion on Black Wednesday, the British Pound sterling crisis. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1992-09

• Scott Bessent made another $1.2 billion profit for Soros Fund Management by betting against the Japanese yen. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2013

• Scott Bessent left Soros Fund Management and established Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2015

• President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Scott Bessent for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2024-11-22

• Scott Bessent was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury by the United States Senate with a 68–29 vote. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  2025-01-27

• Scott Bessent was sworn in as the 79th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, becoming the highest-ranking openly LGBT person in the U.S. federal government and the first openly gay person to lead the Treasury Department. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Web Search)

  2025-01-28

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team access to the Treasury Department's payment system. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-01-31

• The concept of a 'Bessent put' emerged in financial markets, referring to the expectation that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would use fiscal tools to suppress benchmark interest rates, particularly the 10-year Treasury yield, as part of the Trump administration's economic strategy. (Source: Summary, Web Search)

  2025

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly stated 'there's no put' regarding market intervention, clarifying that the administration's policies aim to boost markets rather than stop declines directly. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-03-07

Scott Bessent

Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent ( BESS-ənt; born August 21, 1962) is an American government official and former hedge fund manager serving since 2025 as the 79th United States secretary of the treasury. He was formerly a partner at Soros Fund Management (SFM) and founded Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm. Bessent graduated from Yale College in 1984. In 1991, he was hired by Soros Fund Management, eventually becoming the head of its London office. In this role, in September 1992, he was a leading member of the group that profited by $1 billion on Black Wednesday, the British Pound sterling crisis. He made another $1.2 billion profit for SFM in 2013 betting against the Japanese yen. After he left the Soros Fund in 2015, he established Key Square Group, a hedge fund. Bessent served as an economic advisor, fundraiser, and major donor for the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign. On November 22, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his nomination of Bessent for Treasury Secretary in the second Trump administration. Bessent was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 27, 2025, by a 68–29 vote, and sworn in as the 79th U.S. Treasury Secretary on January 28. Bessent is the second openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet of the United States (after Pete Buttigieg) and the fifth openly gay man to serve in a cabinet-level office (after Demetrios Marantis, Richard Grenell, Pete Buttigieg, and Vince Micone). As the U.S. secretary of the treasury is fifth in the United States presidential line of succession, he is the highest-ranking openly LGBT person ever to serve in the federal government of the United States.

Web Search Results

• New Battle in the U.S. Bond Market: "Bessent Put" vs. "Powell Put"

  Reflecting this shift, two terms have emerged in financial markets: the "Powell Put" and the "Bessent Put." The former refers to the expectation that Fed Chair Jerome Powell might pivot monetary policy in response to economic downturns or stock market declines. The latter signals Bessent’s commitment to using fiscal tools to suppress benchmark interest rates. [...] # New Battle in the U.S. Bond Market: "Bessent Put" vs. "Powell Put" TradingKey — For decades, U.S. bond traders adhered to the mantra: "Don’t Fight the Fed." But now, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeatedly pushes to lower the 10-year Treasury yield, a new slogan is gaining traction: "Don’t Fight the Treasury." [...] While the Treasury traditionally influences yields through bond issuance and debt management, Bessent’s explicit rate-targeting rhetoric represents a notable shift in tone and strategy.

• The case for believing in a Bessent put - Risk.net

  The opening salvos of Donald Trump’s global trade war sent 10-year Treasury yields tumbling to a six-month low. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent wants to keep them there. He has his job cut out. The idea of a so-called Bessent put in the Treasury market has drawn close attention from the industry, particularly regarding the tools Bessent might use and whether they’ll work. [...] Should the Bessent put prove real, asset allocation decisions might require rethinking. Models that rely on the 10-year yield as a signal could be thrown off track. Ten-year yields have fallen by about 70 basis points since January amid concern about a US slowdown, so the Bessent put has yet to be tested in any significant way. That picture may change, though. In such a case, few seem to think the Bessent put will work. Yet investors cannot ignore the possibility it might. [...] Dhingra has looked closely at how far Bessent can manipulate the supply of 10-year bonds, by choosing to fund the government with greater volumes of short-dated Treasury Bills. This is a known device, but most in the markets assume it could work for only a brief time. Short-term debt must be rolled more frequently, making it a riskier way to borrow. Future market conditions are uncertain.

• The Bessent Put - WealthVest

  Bessent, prior to taking on his current role, like many, had been sharply critical of Janet Yellen, his predecessor at Treasury for concentrating an unusual percentage of bond issuance at the front end of the curve, thereby reducing supply of longer-term treasuries and flattening the yield curve. Frankly I agree with that criticism, but the issue is that Bessent, now with the opportunity to control the duration of issuance, has signaled to the market that he will basically pursue the exact same [...] Standard & Poors Financial Services, LLC. [...] For Financial Professional Use Only. Not for use for the general public. See downloads for important disclaimers.

• Treasury Secretary Bessent says there's no Trump 'put,' but their ...

  CNBC logo Join IC Join Pro logo Join IC Join Pro # Treasury Secretary Bessent says there's no Trump 'put,' but their policies should boost market thumbnail Treasury Sec. Bessent: President Trump is committed to policies that will lead to a strong dollar Investors looking for President Donald Trump to use policy to stop the stock market from falling are likely to be disappointed, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday. [...] "There's no put," he said. "The Trump call on the upside is, if we have good policies, then the markets will go up." Puts and calls are terms used in the options market. A put gives the holder the option to buy at a predetermined level while a call allows the holder to sell at the level. In policy parlance, a put would imply that Trump would try to stop market selling at some point. [...] During his first term in office, Trump watched the stock market closely and used it as a barometer to judge his economic performance. In recent days, Bessent has said the administration is looking less at stock prices and more at bond yields as a measure that inflation pressures are easing and the market outlook is better calibrated toward the administration's views. The 10-year Treasury yield has plunged lately, down more than half a percentage point from its mid-January peak.

• Scott Bessent - Wikipedia

  Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent (/ˈbɛsənt/ BESS-ənt; born August 21, 1962) is an American government official and former hedge fund manager serving since 2025 as the 79th United States secretary of the treasury. He was formerly a partner at Soros Fund Management (SFM) and founded Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm. [...] On January 28, 2025, Bessent was sworn in as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury by U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. Bessent became the first openly gay person to lead the U.S. Treasury Department and the second openly gay U.S. Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary. On January 31, Bessent gave Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team access to the Treasury Department's payment system. [...] Bessent served as an economic advisor, fundraiser, and major donor for the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign. On November 22, 2024, President-elect Trump announced his nomination of Bessent for Treasury Secretary in the second Trump administration. Bessent was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 27, 2025, by a 68–29 vote, and sworn in as the 79th U.S. Treasury Secretary on January 28.